The Scientist and the Soldier
by AvocetsInFlight
Summary: Creative title...I know. Anyhow, these are my entries for LeviHan Week 2014, and my first time writing for this pairing.
1. Childhood

All characters property of Isayama Hajime...

**Day 1 – Childhood**

Keep alert. Blend in with the crowd. Those were two of the more important rules Levi had learned for surviving in the underground and on the streets of Mitras. And today he was once again putting them to use as he worked the East Market, alert for any opportunity to pick up some work or steal something from an unattended stall. Pickpocketing could also be good, though of course target choice was all-important.

Levi had found that those from Outside were often easier to target – many of those fools seemed to get overwhelmed by the crowds and bustle, or were just so focused on the business they hoped to get done in the capital that they hadn't any attention to spare for one more small child pushing past them in the crowd. And even at nine years old, Levi was still most definitely small. It could be a bother, like when some of the larger children would try to gang up on him and take that day's yield, but over time Levi had learned to mostly work his small size to his advantage. People naturally assumed he was younger, and therefore were less likely to see him as any sort of threat. Combined with his ever-increasing speed and strength, it meant he could scramble a living more easily than most of the other kids. He was even able to help a few of the younger ones sometimes.

He scanned the rapidly filling market again, intent on choosing his first target of the day. This was the time most of the merchants from outside the capital arrived to either set up shop for the day or deliver their wares to the businesses lining the perimeter of the square. The latter were often easier targets, since the owners would usually go into the shop and leave their cart unattended for a few minutes.

Then a cart rumbled past him, with a small carriage following close behind, and pulled up in front of the draper's shop. A quick glance showed him the cargo was a mixed lot, and not packed quite as well as it could be. If a few small items went missing perhaps it would be assumed they fell out along the way. Levi ducked into the nearest alleyway and waited for the merchant to get out of the carriage.

Moments later the door opened to reveal the man, his wife, and his young daughter. The girl was proclaiming in a decided tone that "Frederick" had to come with her since "it's his first time in the big city and he wants to see it too!" After a bit of half-hearted argument from the mother ("what if you lose him?" etc.) her parents gave up trying to persuade her and the entire family headed into the shop – the girl proudly holding a carved wooden horse which Levi supposed to be "Frederick". The coachman then drove the carriage away, and Levi saw his chance to slip into the back of the cart and see if there was anything worth having.

He was just starting to work open what looked like a crate of silverware when suddenly, Levi felt he was being watched. He quickly glanced over his shoulder to see who had spotted him. It was the girl. The daughter of the merchant he was currently trying to relieve of extra merchandise. She stood there in her yellow sundress and slightly scuffed shoes, her horse statue tucked carefully under one arm (facing forward so it could "see" too, he noticed), and large brown eyes peering curiously up at him from behind slightly-too-large spectacles which had slid a bit down her nose.

"Hullo" she said. "Are you an urchin?"

Levi scowled at the girl. What sort of question was that? Or more importantly, who would ask someone that to their face? Apparently this girl would, and it seemed she took his silence as her cue to keep talking.

"Mamma told me that children who are dirty and don't have any mamma or papa to look after them and don't have enough to eat and are running around the streets are urchins, so when I saw you I thought maybe you were one. I've never met an urchin before."

Levi scowled harder at the annoying brat, then hopped down out of the cart to stand in front of her.

"I'm _not_ dirty."

Her eyes lit up and she smiled. "Ooh, you can talk!" Then she looked him up and down, seeming to carefully consider his appearance. "You're not _very_ dirty. But you're not completely clean either."

Levi took a deep breath. He didn't want to be _too_ mean to the girl, since she was obviously at least a few years younger than him (even though she was almost as tall as he was) and he didn't want her causing a scene. But she was just so _annoying_.

"Well, _you're_ not completely clean!" He pointed to her stained white stockings.

She looked down. "Oh, that's from when I visited my frog friends at the pond before we left this morning. I had to say goodbye since we probably won't see each other again."

"Huh?"

"Well, we stayed at an Inn last night outside the city since it was too late to get in and we won't be stopping there on the way home, and anyway my heron friend will probably have eaten some by the time we're heading back home, so even if we do stop there again not everyone will be there in a way I can say hi to. Have you ever seen a heron?"

Levi considered for a moment. He wasn't sure he even knew what a heron was. "No."

"Hmm. Well, they're mostly gray and bigger than you and me, well – taller anyway, and have a snaky neck and a beak like a spear so they can spear fish, I saw heron friend do it, and Papa told me that sometimes they eat frogs too – "

His confusion must have shown because when she looked up from her explanation she cocked her head to one side and said "I guess it would be better if I could draw you a picture, but I don't have my notebook with me. Maybe I could go get Papa's!"

"Papa" was the last person Levi wanted to show up at the moment, but before he could say anything about it his stomach growled.

"Oh, are you hungry?"

Levi glanced about. Now that "Papa" had been mentioned he remembered that it really would be best if he left soon. Now that the girl had shown up his chance to get anything from here was gone. He really should be moving on.

While he was thinking, the girl had scrambled up into the cart herself and was opening a wicker basket. "Here's some bread and cheese. That's my favorite breakfast. This is the snack basket, so it's okay if you have some too."

And before he could fully process this latest set of information, she was handing him a cloth-wrapped parcel. Inside it was several small loaves of bread and a wedge of yellowish cheese. Looked like he wouldn't have to worry about food for today.

She hopped out of the cart, and dusted a few crumbs off her dress with one hand. Levi gave her a sideways glance as she did so. Maybe this girl wasn't so bad after all.

"Thanks for the food. I have to go now." He began to walk away.

"Bye, Urchin! It was nice meeting you!" She was waving and smiling as she said it.

Nope. He changed his mind.

The girl _was_ annoying after all.

.-.-.-.

**Well, here's my first proper foray into writing for a fandom other than Bleach, and it's for one of my favorite pairings of all time. :) **

**(In other news... Yes! I'm alive! Just busy and writing slowly as usual...) **

**Anyhow, saw it was LeviHan Week on tumblr and was inspired to participate (these are/will be also posted over there on my blog). Won't be in order since that's simply not how they're coming to me.**


	2. Red

All characters property of Isayama Hajime

**Day 7 - Red**

Levi was seeing red, both literally and figuratively.

Two days ago, he and his squad had managed to capture another live titan specimen for Hange to study. It was just a 4-meter class, but she had as usual been overjoyed to receive it – hugging Levi quite tightly in gratitude and exclaiming over how kind they all were to have gotten it for her and how she couldn't wait to begin experimenting on it.

He may or may not have continued getting her titans so she would have an excuse to hug him.

Also, the research that Shitty-glasses did with them was vitally important. There was that, too.

She named the horrid thing "Cleek", and had been running experiments on it almost continually since receiving it. Levi had only glimpsed her once in that time, coming out of her lab with an armful of supplies and scientific equipment. She probably hadn't slept at all in the past two days. Looked like he would have to go and check on her and make sure she rested, since Moblit was obviously doing a shitty job in that department. Yeah, sure, he knew Moblit was probably exhausted too, but that was no excuse. The fancy-faced idiot had _one_ job – take care of Hange. Levi shouldn't have to be checking on his work to make sure it was done right…

With thoughts such as that running through his head, Levi had finished his dinner and made his way out to where the titan was being held.

Sure enough, there was Hange - elbows-deep in an attempted dissection on the left leg of her newest research subject. She had several torches set up to illuminate her work area, and Moblit was fussing around behind her handing her instruments as she called for them.

Suddenly, a spurt of blood hit Hange in the face, and Moblit dropped what he was doing to fish out a clean handkerchief and oh-so-tenderly clean it off of her (and her glasses). When he was done she thanked him, shooting her idiot attendant a quick, bright smile.

_That_ was what had Levi seeing red.

_First of all_, the incompetent fool hadn't done a proper job cleaning off the blood – Levi could still see some spatters along Hange's hairline which he would have to take care of. (Also, cleaning Hange's glasses was _his_ job, not Moblit's.)

_Second of all_, any sign of the scientist and her primary assistant being closer than was professionally necessary irritated Levi immensely.

Only, this time it was worse than usual, since Levi had just recently figured out _why_ it bothered him so much.

Levi _liked_ Hange.

As in, _like_ liked.

As in, he found himself wanting more and more often to just have her all to himself and the rest of humanity (with a few exceptions) could go shit itself for all he cared, and wouldn't it be nice if the two of them could just go off somewhere safe together and he could do _things_ with her and…

Damn, he had it bad.

And he had not quite figured out just how to tell her about it yet.

But that didn't matter right now since the priority for the moment was to get Hange to take a break so she wouldn't collapse from exhaustion.

"Oi, Shitty-glasses! Stop experimenting and get some sleep."

She was frowning in concentration at the moment and didn't even glance at him as she replied "Can't right now, Levi. At a critical stage."

Sighing, he pinched the bridge of his nose. Looked like this would require more effort. He turned to Moblit.

"You."

"Y-yes, Heichou!"

"Go get some rest. I'll take over here."

The overly-faithful assistant looked reluctant. "But Levi-heichou…"

"Just go. We'll be fine here. Or are you doubting me, Berner?"

"No, sir! Just, ah, I suppose you should have the notebook, then." Moblit handed Levi the notebook and pencil he had been holding, but still made no move to go after the exchange. Levi shot him a hard look. The brown-haired man looked distinctly uncomfortable. "I'll… just be going then…" And with that Moblit trotted off towards the barracks, though not without casting one last, worried glance over his shoulder. Hmph. That stupid, mawkish look on his face made it pathetically obvious that the worry-wart assistant was fond of his superior in a way that went beyond mere duty.

For the next hour and a half, Levi stood there in Moblit's place handing Hange whatever she needed, writing down observations she dictated to him, and ready to jerk her to safety at a moment's notice. Finally, Hange declared "Done!" and straightened up, lack of sleep showing plainly on her features. Levi seized his chance.

"Okay you, you're filthy and exhausted and you're going to clean yourself up and get some sleep now even if I have to drag you back to quarters, clean you up, and put you to bed myself."

She laughed and waved a hand at him. "Fine, fine Levi! You're right, much longer out here and I'll be falling asleep on top of Cleek – and I highly suspect that he wouldn't appreciate that."

Levi scoffed at that as he began to help Hange gather up her equipment to carry back to the lab. Really, her empathetic attitude towards these creatures was beyond odd. But, it was part of what made her who she was – and as such, he loved it. Not that he would ever tell her that.

The two made their weary way back into the compound and deposited their respective armloads of equipment in the lab. Then Hange departed for the washroom to clean herself up a bit, and Levi went to prepare some tea for the both of them. By the time he came back from the kitchens with it, Hange was in her room lying face-down on her bed – looking not much different than before.

Levi set their tea down on the end table, disturbed at the lack of evident change. "Shitty-glasses, did you only take a dump in there, or what?" As he said this he began to work off her boots which she had neglected to remove before collapsing.

Hange huffed in amusement and turned her head so that her response wouldn't be completely muffled by her pillow. "Calm down clean freak, I washed my face and arms too. Even changed my shirt. I'm just too tired to do anything else at the moment. It's hard work saving humanity with science, ya know."

"Hmm. You want some tea?" When Hange didn't respond he glanced at her face, only to discover she had already fallen asleep. Upon closer inspection he spotted some dried blood on her forehead which she had missed. With a sigh, he wet a clean handkerchief with some of the water he had brought for tea and cleaned the remaining gore off her face – gently brushing back her bangs so they wouldn't get in the way. After that he covered her with a blanket, removed her hair tie, and took her glasses so she would be more comfortable (and he could give them a _proper_ cleaning).

As he set his own cup of tea to steep, Levi reflected once again on his…fondness…for the Survey Corps' lead scientist. Somehow or other he had to convey these feelings to her – let Hange know that somehow or other she had become a well-nigh essential part of his existence - and do it before someone else (Moblit) beat him to it. Of course, maybe she would prefer someone like Moblit anyway. After all, the man was the sort that most girls (as far as Levi knew) dreamed of marrying - tall, handsome, well-spoken, good background, gentle, faithful, and caring to the nth degree - mostly things that Levi was not.

Then again, Hange was not "most girls", and Levi liked to think that he understood her better than anyone else in the corps. Certainly there had been an undeniable connection between the two of them almost since the day they met, and for Levi at least, that connection had deepened until it became an…attachment…he could not do without.

He _had_ to tell her, he _would_ tell her, just as soon as he figured out how to say what needed to be said. And until he found the words for it, he could continue to express himself in actions, watching over her and cleaning her glasses while she slept.

.-.-.-.

**Apologies for the bit of Moblit-hate. I like Moblit, personally - but this is Levi we're dealing with here, and a jealous Levi at that... **


End file.
